From moi-moi hawker to manufacturer, woman shares her experience
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One of her life’s principles is to keep evolving. And by sticking religiously to this time-tasted principle, Mrs. Aisha Ime-James has evolved from just selling bean pudding, more popularly called Moi-Moi, from canopies on the streets of Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, Lagos, to being the founder/CEO of Ample Foods, a preferred hub for the procurement of locally-grown, rich and quality staple foods.
Ample Foods, which specialises in blending herbs and spices to meet individual dietary and health needs, has four of its products registered by the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). They are Eggshell powder (a natural calcium alternative), Activated charcoal (used to combat food poisoning), Tigernuts mix (also known as Kunu Aya), and Cayenne mix spice.
Other products on the stable of Ample Foods include Tumericplus (a spice combination of cinnamon, turmeric, ginger & black pepper), Tamarind seed powder (caffeine free coffee), Tamarind fruit & seed powder, Dates powder, Baobab fruit powder, Kuka 4 in 1 pack soup (contains spices, catfish and crayfish powder; all individually packed), and Baobab milk drink, among others.
But, it is not so much the company’s products, which have become the toast of customers in search of natural, nutritious and quality staple foods that meet their individual dietary and health needs that stand Ample Foods out. Rather, it is the rich and inspiring story of how a mere catering services outfit focussed on selling Moi-Moi on the streets evolved into a start-up food value-chain.
It all started few years ago when Aisha, in line with her principle of constantly evolving, decided to introduce variants of the Moi-Moi she was selling to her numerous customers. Unlike the regular Moi-Moi, she came up with Moi-Moi that had low salt, low oil, and low pepper, for instance. She also took the innovation a notch higher, infusing herbs and spices into the Moi-Moi she sold to her customers.
“I spiced the Moi-Moi with turmeric and herbs that will help break down metabolism,” the start-up strategist, entrepreneurship coach and mentor told The Nation, noting, however, that she had always loved food, herbs and spices. “I have always loved Moi-Moi business. I could eat a bowl of Moi-Moi. I could eat 10 raps at a go. In fact, my sisters and I are into herbs and spices as hobby,” Aisha said.
According to her, she was selling the spices and herbs at the corners where she initially had her store and people were ordering and she was supplying. “So, I decided to infuse the hobby into the business,” she said, pointing out: “One thing about life is that you don’t stop, just keep evolving and moving. You will be shocked where it will take you.”
For Aisha, who holds an Ordinary National Diploma (OND), a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Marketing from Federal Polytechnic Bida; a Post-graduate Diploma (PGD) in Management from the University of Calabar; and a Professional Diploma in Marketing from National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria, it was a case of turning her love for food, spices and herbs into a money-making business venture.
Her natural inclination to evolve must have been why the consummate marketing and media practitioner, with over 20 years’ practice in print, electronic and New Media, branding, advertising and marketing, has been able to transform into one of Nigeria’s most sought-after processors/manufacturers, with Ample Foods’ range of lifestyle healthy food products dominating the market.
Before starting Ample Foods in 2015, Aisha had to stop the business she was doing as a media marketing integration and event service provider. She got fed up after clients started giving different excuses for not paying for services rendered.
“I had a bad experience of people owing and not wanting to pay, giving excuses when you have delivered. I do event creation; I am a creative director. I can create events; conceptualise events and source for them. But, when you do that for people and they just find one excuse or the other not to pay your fee at the end of the day, which was a bit discouraging after working in the media and now trying to start mine,” she narrated.
However, her bad experience only served to turn Aisha into a study in doggedness and resourcefulness. The former On-Air Personality (OAP) with Voice of Nigeria (VON) and former head of Marketing at Superscreen Television wasted no time in floating Ample Foods, first as a catering business, and also opened a shop for it.
But, unfortunately, the shop failed. Her words: “I realised that people are too busy to enter stores. So, at the end of the day, I reasoned to myself that what is the essence of paying shop rent and huge bills if people don’t come in. I had to stop the business and thought of what to do next. I went ahead and started my passion, which is food.
“My sister and I had always nurtured the idea of having a Moi-Moi corner where people, working class mothers and people generally can get healthy Moi-Moi.”
But this time, Aisha had to do away with the idea of keeping a shop. “I shut the store, went to the streets of Adeniyi Jones, looked for two points, set up canopies and started selling Moi-Moi,” she explained.
The Trainer and Publicity Secretary of Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA’s) Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW) ran the business from canopies before she finally stopped selling Moi-Moi on the streets. By then, creativity, innovation and, of course, her natural knack to keep evolving and moving had set in. She started taking orders from customers from far and wide.
It was also at this point that Aisha introduced variants of Moi-Moi and also infused spices and herbs in her offering. She said some years back, she and her sister had planned to go to the Nigerian Agency for Natural Medicine to study more on herbs, but kept procrastinating.
“But, somehow, God has a way of ordering once step. I kept at my food, my spices, my catering, but I discovered I am more passionate when it comes to the herbal part of it than the catering part of it,” she recalled.
Eventually, she decided to follow her passion and the step God ordered for her. I stopped the Moi-Moi business. I was no longer getting the excitement I thought I would get. More so, because it was on street corner and it became a bit challenging using a street corner,” she told The Nation. Besides, foreigners who own the place she was using left Nigeria so she had to move.
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